Lenovo is Working on a Google Glass Competitor

Lenovo recently confirmed that it is working on a device similar to Google Glass. The device is said to a five-megapixel camera, voice recognition and gesture control, and around 12GB of internal storage.

The Google-Glass look alike will have a battery attached down at the neck of the user. The Chinese computing giant said that more information will be revealed in October. However the company said that they are looking for partners to foray into the wearable market. It has reportedly created the “NBD” platform, which is Chinese for “new bench”.

Vuzix M100

“Right now there are too many devices you can develop for the Internet of Things. It is too rich. Not a single company can do it all,” Chen Xudong, senior vice-president of Lenovo was quoted saying. The NBD platform is geared towards the Chinese market, but it may soon turn its attention to the rest of the world. “We hope to use Lenovo’s advantages to combine with innovators,” Chen added. “This platform can help them quickly start selling products, and create a supply chain for the market.”

In a bid to achieve its goal, the company has launched the NBD platform. With NBD, Lenovo wants to “offer funding, manufacturing, hardware research and other logistical support to partners”, the report added.

Prototype of Lenovo C1

The device, called C1, will support NBD platform that aims to make connected devices like web-enabled air purifiers more inter-compatible, by providing a framework, R&D, manufacturing support and will even provide funding to third-party firms.

Lenovo has also partnered with German company called Luftmed which manufactures an affordable air purifier that can be controlled with a smartphone. Lenovo also announced that the company has partnered with Vuzix to launch M100 smart glasses in China.

Lenovo now has two smart glasses in production, the M100 and the Google Glass-like C1. According to the report, the M100 uses Android 4.0.4 and is powered by a 1GHz dual-core processor. It will first go on sale to developers for 8,000 yuan ($1298) in August or September 2014, but its ultimate target is the business market.